Solstice
by xLilim
Summary: Thirteen series, Part 2: In death she calls and in life he answers. IchigoOC
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer**: Bleach © Tite Kubo, Thirteen series (Paroxysm, Solstice, etc) © Me.

**Warning**(**s**): Violence, character death (you know what I mean...or do you?), and angst.

**xl note**: Happy Halloween!

Welcome to Solstice, part 2 of the Thirteen series. This is guaranteed shorter than its predecessor, most likely half its size (and less), and it's straight to the point whereas Paroxysm set the stage. This one continues to be very action/adventure motivated, but it is still a romance and the pairing is still IchigoOC. However, Solstice introduces a secondary pairing that may not have been so obvious in Paroxysm and will hopefully win you over by the end of Solstice.

I feel there is still so much ground to cover with the Arcana, and for this story...you will face a preliminary war that will be a definite game changer. Look forward to that and much, much more.

I hope that you will enjoy part two because I was very excited writing it. I had wanted to wait in posting this, but Halloween was coming and I think that down the road you'll appreciate the irony of me doing so.

Please enjoy this prologue and the short first installment.

**Beta**: LULuckyTiger

* * *

**Prologue**, "Oblivion"

* * *

Kurosaki Ichigo felt deadened. A chill strummed through him and the howl of the wind came to a sudden silence. Above him, beyond the floating orbs lighting the way to the bottom of hollow broken ground stood Takeba Shima and Housen Nagisa and in his arms he cradled a weight so cold it froze his tired limbs. He stood flabbergasted, unable to part with the body of Wakatsuki Haruka despite her standing a few feet away from him because they weren't the same person, and he didn't seem to be the only one weary.

Nagata Taishi, the Death Arcana and brother to Nagisa, looked up to the two with a vicious glare and beside him Sumizome Ageha, the Hermit Arcana, seemed both troubled and suspicious, but she never glanced at them. Her eyes, the color of molten gold, swept to him and her lips parted. "You."

Ichigo glowered in response to the frosty, accusatory tone. He didn't need to hear her shout it at the top of her lungs, he stood insignificant in her eyes, a worm at the bottom of her booted feet, and her only issue with him was the lifeless body in his arms.

"You nearly ruined everything," she went on reproachfully.

In a cloud of dark smoke, she appeared before the trio with her blond attendant not too far behind. She reached forward to touch Haruka's pallid cheek, her hand enfolded in black energy, and Ichigo instinctively stepped back.

Her eyes flashed in his direction and he felt paralyzed, weighted under pure energy laced in malice and terror. He opened his mouth in complaint, but his lips were glued together.

Shima stood between Nagisa and the two Arcana, preventing them from moving forward as her hand fell atop Haruka's forehead.

The small weight of her disappeared from Ichigo's arms. He struggled to lower his gaze and glimpsed at something white and feather-like floating into the air before all feeling returned to his body and he dropped on his backside. His arms were empty and his eyes snapped up to Nagisa as he forced himself to stand.

"What did you do to her?" he demanded, hands fisted at his side.

"Oblivion."

Ichigo turned in Nagata's direction, who stared on ahead with his eyes alit with hatred. "She sent her body to Oblivion, which can only mean one thing."

"You heard a heartbeat then," Ageha finished in a saddened voice. "Our queen was alive."

His heart throbbed painfully in his chest. He wanted to scream. He heard all about Oblivion, the Arcana graveyard, and of its white vast emptiness. Time stood still in Oblivion and it was the worst punishment any Arcana could endure, which gave Wakatsuki Arashi, the banished Judgment Arcana and twin to Haruka, a well enough reason to be as pissed off.

"What have you done?" Ageha asked, moving past Shima.

The Fool reached for him, but Nagata grabbed him by the wrist and the only sound that filled his ears was the distinct break of bone followed by a hiss of pain.

"Move again and I'll break your neck," Nagata threatened.

"There is no need for your violence, brother," said Nagisa, indifferent to Shima's evident pain or her brother's willingness to kill him. She spoke the words because they were appropriate, not because she thought stopping them was the right thing to do, but because it sounded like the next line to a script for a character she was bad at playing. "You should be kinder to Shima."

Nagata tightened his grip on Shima's limp wrist and jerked him forward, his other hand pressed against his shoulder and as if in response to her poorly delivered request, he crushed the bone until the blond fell to his knees before him with a terrible scream.

It surprised him to see Shima not lift a finger, but not Nagisa's placid reaction. Haruka would have stopped it with words or violence, at the expense of their pain and its resonance to her. Thinking of her saddened him over the emptiness in his arms and the idea of her living, but now imprisoned in Oblivion by her own likeness worsened the emotion.

"Enishi," Ageha called. The two exchanged a fleeting glance and in it parted with a silent understanding that read in their expressions.

Death dropped his hold on Shima, who slumped forward clutching his shattered shoulder in desperation. Pain leaked from his haggard breaths and molded his calm countenance into a different face, of the timid man Ichigo recalled from Haruka's memories—the one that feared the one before him and pursued Nagisa with romantic intent. The first time he saw Shima, Ichigo felt unnerved by the way he looked at Haruka. There was a longing in his eyes when she smiled and a fire when she wandered away.

"Nagisa, I take it." Ageha returned his attention to the woman, who pretended at a smile in answer. "You have done a foolish thing in breaking your soul in two and imprisoning that other half in the White Hell. What sinister plan do you hope to unleash by doing this?"

_Breaking her soul in half?_ Ichigo needed an explanation. _Imprisoning the other half? _"What is going on?" he asked sharply, brown eyes ablaze and his anger built.

Ageha lifted a hand to him in silence.

"I am doing what needs to be done," Nagisa answered evenly. "Four unsuccessful cycles came and went, each bloodier than the last, and the fifth was looking just as bleak. I wanted to make a definitive difference. I made the choice when I was fairly young in my human shell; and so that I would not again turn coward, I left my weakness behind to her for I had no need of it."

"You failed to answer the question."

"We are stuck between phases—our journey's apex has been reached and what do we find here? Tragedy," she explained. "Kosuda Tokujiro and Yamato have become key players. If you took Soul Society at the end of these thirteen days, you will find defeat. Soul Society is too strong, they have the support of every Arcana except Death, Devil, Hanged Man, Strength, and Hermit. You would have been an army of six against one of thousands. Have you never learned that there is strength in numbers, physical or spiritual strength are not always the deciding factors in war and neither is strategic genius or the gift of ability. There are more contributing factors to victory and your pathetic group of soldiers would not hold a candle to Soul Society and everyone's favorite Shinigami Representative."

She cast a wayward look in his direction and it irritated him.

"So, I did not break my soul to start a sinister plan. No, I did it to achieve a goal," she continued, strangely excited. "Wakatsuki Haruka will be believed dead. You will all become humans and you will be hunted because this is the start of our new journey and it is our job to capitalize on this great opportunity—"

"This was not our destiny!" Ageha interjected. "We earned our freedom through a final act and we lived in peace among them! Her included, Nagisa included, not you. You will not take her place."

"No need," she said, gliding to Shima's side and set a gentle hand upon his head. "The place is rightfully mine."

Nagisa and Shima vanished in a spiral of gray smoke.

A hard wind whistled through the mountainous area covered in dreary night where it echoed in grief. Nagata's quiet fury reached its threshold and as he made it up the steep climb to the edge, he threw his head back and screamed—strong and at the top of his lungs and painful. It reverberated among the deadened shadows, a powerful cry as though he was in the middle of battle, taking up his giant axe to bash an enemy's skull in.

Ichigo slipped back into shock staring at the blood that soaked into his clothes, reminded of her on the ground drowned in crimson and damaged by a man with a butcher's skill. He felt sick and lost and devastated to the point there didn't exist words to describe his feeling.

He hated remembering the slow tears rolling down her pale face, wide blue eyes shining with all her heartfelt emotion and her trembling hands clutching at the sides of her dress. Behind her was the ocean water, blue-green in the morning then black and reflective at night, and the moon shone against the rippling waters and its light cast a glow around her thin body. Salted breezes blew and tousled waves of her hair across her face much like the sea's movement behind her.

Haruka had chocked back on words, her face had flushed in embarrassment as she uttered them over and over again, _"I don't want to die. I don't want to die. Save me. Please._" And he had crushed her against him, stunned. She had cried and pleaded in a wretched voice, expressing herself in a way that left an impression—an impression that she might not have wanted to succumb to her true feelings.

With her voice repeating those words in his mind, the voice in his head called back to it. _I couldn't save her. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't do this for her. _The one thing she asked of him honestly, he failed to do and it hurt more than he imagined because he couldn't save her. He always wanted to save everyone. It was visceral and willful as he learned to understand when people couldn't be saved, when it became too late.

Haruka was different. There would never be hesitation, no impossible obstacles. She wouldn't be beyond saving and there would always be time. Even though he was unable to see past her limp and cold body in his arms or trapped in Oblivion, he was determined to find a way. So he wouldn't mourn or give up. He would see her again, a second time, a third, a fourth, a fifth, a thousand times, a million times, again and again until she grew tired of him.

He could save her still. And he might fail a hundred times, but he _would_ save her.

"Kurosaki-san."

Ageha appeared in front of him, sullen and repentant. "I acted rudely towards you, I apologize," he said honestly. "Nagi—no, I should say, Haruka, she was a very special person to me. She was my oldest friend and my oldest, most dearest friend was suddenly dead. I acted unfairly when I first saw you, but Enishi made the right decision in bringing you. You were an important person in her life if not the most important."

Ichigo accepted the apology with a nod.

"I owe you an explanation on the situation," he continued. "One of our Arcana has the ability to split their soul into two pieces, only limited to two, and there is essentially a yin and yang play at hand. One embodies the positivity of the individual while the other takes on a more brusque, negative manner. In this case, Wakatsuki Haruka retained most of her personality while Housen Nagisa inherited her stagnation and the evil represented by her Tarot or any other she was capable of becoming. This changes nothing in terms of ability, they will keep it, the only difference here is that Haruka held the crown making Nagisa a mere Arcana without the spoken ability to control the rest, but this matters not in Oblivion. There she exists without rank and here she is presumed dead."

"So it is true…you'll become human?" asked Ichigo.

"Without a doubt we are already becoming human, but I do not want to put anything past Nagisa. There is a possibility we won't be fully human and that may cause an imbalance." At his expression, Ageha attempted to rectify, "I do doubt my musings are correct. Pay me no mind."

_Says the one that sees the future…_ Ichigo looked up at the quiet surrounding Nagata and saw him staring into the blackened, starless sky above. Power pulsed through him and left him in waves that radiated across the entire mountain. His hair was stark white instead of dyed black and his eyes as golden as a fully powered Arcana.

Ageha offered to take him home suggesting they leave Nagata on his own, but instead of going straight to the Kurosaki Clinic, they appeared in the destroyed outskirts of a city where Haruka's spiritual pressure was strongest. She fought someone there and beyond the billowing grey smoke, he saw the mountains that they had departed.

"I apologize, I was certain I might find your friend here," admitted Ageha, pacing down an empty street.

Ichigo followed close behind as they passed street upon street. "Who?"

"Oh, there he is."

He spotted him from afar slumped against the wall beaten bloody and breathing haggardly. Ichigo rushed to Asano Keigo, who offered him a bitter red smile, and tried to lift him, but not without causing him great discomfort.

Ageha kneeled before the two, staring directly into Keigo's eyes. "Haruka is dead," he said and the confirmation upset Keigo to the point of tears. "A lot has happened and I will talk you through it, but you need to tell me what happened here. Come, I will take you to be healed before it is too late to do it our way."

Once he helped gather Keigo did Ageha uphold his word to deliver him home, but in that split second, his friend's condition worsened and it became imperative to heal him, so Ichigo ushered them inside his home where he came across a room so full of life but so full of dread.

Karin and Yuzu broke away from Touma, who sat on the ground looking far younger than he remembered, and embraced Ichigo. The two asked a dozen questions and he was at a loss in answering them. Ageha asked for help and Yuzu automatically volunteered, leaving them behind to see in what way she might accomplish that.

The melancholy redhead left his seat and stepped past him, only a head taller than Karin and with clothes that fit him two sizes too big.

"Did something happen?" he asked his sister.

"No, he just shrunk."

"I need to be alone. Excuse me." Touma left out the front door and when it swung closed, only long tendrils of silvery smoke remained vanishing in the disquiet.

Ageha stayed late to heal the worst of Keigo's wounds and eased the worst of the Hanged Man's pain. He explained the situation to Karin, but Yuzu overheard the worst of it and the two girls hugged Ichigo a second time making it seem that much more real. They understood Touma's change in mood and Ageha went on to talk about his situation in slight detail.

"Haruka has a tendency to panic before death," Ageha revealed. "She doesn't know how to protect him, so she does this. She normally turns him into a child and entrusts him to me, but she didn't seem to have the time to complete the process."

"She didn't want to die," Ichigo said quietly. "She was terrified…she must have known."

"She definitely knew," Ageha confirmed. "She barricaded every Arcana in the Human World inside their home and took drastic measures to make sure Nagata and Touma stayed asleep. She spread tranquility to us all as she lay dying and made sure it would be impossible for us to discern the situation. She left a mess."

Ichigo scowled.

"It's the truth. She's created chaos through one thoughtless decision and it infuriates me that this is her idea of a dead joke." Ageha didn't look too angry, but it did seem as though he was suppressing some emotion. "It wasn't funny at all."

Ichigo glimpsed in the direction of the living room, his sisters were on the couch pretending not to listen while Keigo recovered from his wounds in the clinic.

"Haruka's not dead, she's stuck in Oblivion," Ichigo said, "and if Arashi left before he finished his time, there must be a way out."

A knock echoed behind them and Yuzu was the first to jump out of her seat, but Ichigo asked her to stay seated. Ageha accompanied Ichigo to the entrance and when he opened the door, he made a face. It wasn't Nagata's presence but Arashi's at the forefront with sullen eyes that disconcerted him.

"Can we come in?" he asked politely.

Nagata shoved his brother forward into the house grumbling insults. Ichigo shut the door behind the two and thought there wasn't a stranger sight in the world than the two brothers acting civil after their last confrontation cost Nagata his zanpakutō.

"What is this about?" asked Ichigo, once he was certain his sisters were upstairs and out of earshot.

"Oblivion," Nagata answered. "There are only three people in the world with inner knowledge of Oblivion: Kosuda Tokujiro, Housen Yamato, and Housen Nagisa. That thing going around calling herself Nagisa would shoot herself in the face before helping us release the very being that embodies her weakness. And Kosuda would rather give us a one way ticket to Oblivion and we're not looking for a vacation—"

"I might," said Ageha.

"Shut up, Ageha." Nagata gave an exasperated sigh and then looked to the shorter male. "That leaves only one person with the information and a willingness to fork it over."

Everyone's eyes fell on the light haired, blue-eyed teenager standing in the center of the room. He shrugged with an innocent smile on his face. "Yeah, I didn't expect to see me either," he said jokingly. "You see my hatred for Haruka is nowhere near as large as my hatred for Kosuda and while I accepted to work with him by my father's orders, I didn't plan for him to attack my own or use them against me. Seeing as we don't have the time to listen to my ruined plans, I'll get straight to the point. I want to help with Haruka, but in return, I want a favor."

"It depends on the favor," Ageha said.

"You better be willing to sacrifice something. Oblivion isn't an easy world to tamper with," Arashi continued, "not even for me and I created it."

"Take what you want, but Haruka and Kurosaki's sisters are off limits and that means being cordial and nonthreatening," Nagata bartered. "Take it or leave it."

"Let's hope you don't regret that later." Arashi paused, the smile fading quick. "The winter solstice, it's forthcoming and is the one time where time restarts within Oblivion. I can open a proper gate to allow others in, but know it won't be easy. Oblivion is the Arcana graveyard and Nagisa is the queen, don't think the Spirits will allow you to waltz in and take her without a fight."

"The Spirits?" asked Ichigo.

"Well, all the dead non-Original Arcana had to go somewhere," he answered laxly, "and they're not very nice."

"Considering you put half of the Original Arcana in there, you didn't expect them to be waiting with a party, did you?" Nagata arched an eyebrow, arms folded over his chest.

"It wouldn't have hurt."

"So there's still a chance to save her?" Ichigo swore to find a way, but it was difficult to take in when the answer to the question found him. Even though he wouldn't trust Arashi as far as he could throw him, Nagata brought him for a reason.

"Yes, but there will be both a time limit on the gate and the rescuing part," Arashi elaborated. "Kosuda boasted about having killed her and that only means she's in terrible shape, so it's likely time restarting is all she needs to die and become a permanent resident. If that happens, you won't be seeing her until the Tenth Cycle and I doubt you'll live that long. You're going to need someone with peculiar healing capabilities and the willingness to handle black energy, perhaps a certain classmate? You will also be needing an Arcana capable of overpowering several Arcana souls. May I suggest Touma? He's wonderful at these things, but if you'd like, Arisawa-senpai is not a terrible choice if you'd rather have someone with a little more stability. Take the Hanged Man as well and Ageha or Kazumasa, either one will provide you with great navigational skills. You should care to finish your training within the next four months unless you want to stay behind."

"I will," Ichigo hissed.

"Why should we trust in anything you just said?" Ageha asked suspiciously. "This information is coming to us far too easily and I dislike it."

"I'm not asking you to trust me," Arashi answered. "I am merely offering my services for a measly favor and if that is not enough for you to agree to a temporary truce, I will tell you something interesting about Soul Society's counterattack." He paused, smiling again. "My father is fronting the team of scientists in charge of the second Arcana project and all one hundred candidates were chosen, among them is none other than Kuchiki Rukia."

"What?" Ichigo snapped.

"She's not the only one of your friends in the lineup."

"We have to—"

"If you want to stop them, you're on your own," Nagata interjected. "We don't give two shits about your shinigami friends; we just want Haruka out of the graveyard and whole again before her nasty counterpart can make a bigger mess of things on our side."

"And yes, they are expected to replace the rebellious lot," Arashi finished, drawing attention back to him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means we won't be needed anymore," Ageha answered, his eyes clouded. "Wakatsuki Hiko has perfected and mastered the Black Crystal and learnt to create Arcana without the pain ours was forced to endure. The new twenty two will be ready to go before this month is out."

"And now with that confirmation, I will take my leave, it's been nice not trying to kill each other." With a laugh, Arashi disappeared, leaving them in terse silence.

Nagata dodged out of sight and returned in under the same minute with an unconscious and bandaged Keigo slumped on his shoulder.

"What're you doing?" asked Ichigo. "He's supposed to be resting."

"I agree, it's best he isn't moved while his body heals—"

"He'll rest when he's dead. I'm taking this one. You find Kazumasa if he wasn't thrown into Oblivion with Haruka." Nagata returned his eyes to Ichigo. "You have a decision to make, come with us and regain your powers or try to stop Wakatsuki Hiko from making the rest of your friends into Arcana." He smirked. "Not too difficult a choice, eh?"

Nagata and Ageha left and the situation sunk in like claws digging at his back. Ichigo weighed his options. Too many lives were at stake and he couldn't be everywhere, so in his quiet, dim-lit house he made a decision.

[ **TO BE CONTINUED** ]


	2. Taste of Death

**01** | "Taste of Death"

* * *

The Lovers once existed as a single being—a woman of waxen hair called Ninomiya Yoshino—who suffered a loss she was unable to recover from and, because of her tragedy, she realized her gift and split her soul in two. The man, dubbed Ninomiya Kotaro, inherited the good of the Tarot they now shared and only together were they whole. It was said that one half could continue living if the other died, but that neither would be as strong as they were complete.

Takeba Shima remembered the Ninomiya halves with great clarity and thought their relationship had been a hundred times more stable than The World and hers. Housen Nagisa, the Reversed World, and Wakatsuki Haruka, the Purity World, were internally at war. That had been a constant strain between communications passing between the two, with Haruka holding the most power of the halves, she proved the most difficult to maneuver which led to the roller coaster that would become her relationship with Kurosaki Ichigo and the awakening of the other Arcana. The best way to describe the two, despite swearing on working towards the same goal, was that they both created separate and very different ideals, intent on carrying them out even if it meant muddling the original plan.

Housen Nagisa, the pale haired woman, desired death.

Wakatsuki Haruka, the teenage girl, wanted resolution.

However, Haruka was meant to be the sacrificial lamb from the start, a way to fool Soul Society into believing her dead so that Nagisa could continue plotting away their doom in the shadows. But, Haruka gave herself up to her restlessness and tried to prevent her scheduled death by cutting off her connections with her other half until Nagisa sent him to observe her.

Shima watched her in order to ensure Nagisa's success and they took drastic measures to accomplish it. With Haruka banished into Oblivion and half dead, the chance to act was now. Acting was exactly what Nagisa had in mind when she parted ways with him that evening and waltzed onto an antique street surrounded by a thick shroud.

She wore a long skirt that fluttered with every step of her heeled feet and a tank top under a moss green jacket. She held her purse tightly against her stomach. The desolate street was particularly well known for its troublemakers and for that reason alone, she had chosen it.

Shima remained seated atop a building overlooking the street. The harsh winds pushing against him and the putrid scent of beer and piss drifted up with it, setting up a gray backdrop to the first of many tragedies.

_"If Soul Society does not wish to engage me on my terms, I will smoke them out."_

That had been her explanation and he failed to understand until that moment.

A group of delinquents appeared in front of her, forcing her to come to a sudden halt. Talking went on, not loud enough for it to reach him with the wind howling in his ears, before one latched onto her arm. He let his eyes fall shut as the first piercing scream broke through the noise followed by several more screeches and of desperate voices begging for mercy.

The sting of blood was strong, but the scent of death stronger.

"It is over," came her soft voice behind him.

Shima opened his eyes to the gore beyond the street and turned to Nagisa. "Is it?"

"No, of death there will be more," she answered. "It is only done today."

"Is this what you have planned?" Shima found himself irritated by her actions. "How many humans do you expect to kill?"

"As many as it takes to knock the world off balance."

[ **TO BE CONTINUED** ]

* * *

**xl note**: Introducing Shima as a POV character. In Paroxysm, I had no set POV characters, it simply was whoever I thought best suited the situation, but in Solstice, we have a solid cast of POV characters: Shima, Nagata, Ichigo, Keigo, and Ukitake. I am going torture the hell out of myself with all these male perspectives this time around and I hope I can pull it off.

Shima's POV will also be short.

There will be a surprise POV that shows up somewhere in the story.

Thank you for reading! I hope you had a wonderful night on this Hallow's Eve doing whatever you were doing!

P.S. Find a preview to the next chapter at my LJ. You can go to my profile and look for the "Available Previews" link that'll take you into the preview tag at my LJ and then, just scroll down to find it. It'll be titled Thirteen, btw. :)


	3. The Blackened Wall

**02** | "The Blackened Wall"

* * *

Kurosaki Ichigo woke surrounded by her scent and quietly rose from the feathered bed where she slept mere days ago before her separate encounter with Kosuda Tokujiro and Housen Nagisa left her half dead and imprisoned in Oblivion. He rubbed his face clean of drowsiness and turned to the wall covered in the charcoal sketches she spent hours rushing to complete with her thin face drawn in concentration. He scrutinized the darkness illustrated in the pages ripped from several sketchbooks, long dark tendrils met on opposite sides and clusters of black surfaces like the wisps of smoke kicked up by an Arcana dodging in and out of sight. He could stare at the wall for hours in search of answers he knew were there. Haruka worked herself to exhaustion attempting to finish every page to place strategically all around one whole side of the room.

A blinking light caught his eye and he reached for the cellphone sitting atop the square table. He found a new message from his sisters, both missed him and asked when he would return home while going onto say that their father was keeping an eye on them and that Touma returned earlier that morning. He sent a response to them, a short one to inform them that he would visit tomorrow. He felt at ease knowing Touma reappeared after Nagata admitted he would be impossible to locate if he disappeared into his dimension, a plane that once served as an Arcana's inner world when they were shinigami and where their zanpakutō spirits now roamed free.

He heard shuffling in the kitchen and threw the gray comforter off, swinging his legs off the bed onto the ground. A chill strummed through down his spine and he reached for the hoodie at the foot of the bed, tugging it over his head on his way out the door and into the kitchen.

Nagata Taishi sat in front of the counter eating a bowl of cereal, the white carton box and milk sitting off to the side. He lifted gold-hued eyes to him and gestured to the cereal with his spoon. "Take the easy way out with some cornflakes unless you want to suffer the stove."

"What's wrong with the stove?" asked Ichigo, pulling a bowl from a cupboard. He sat across Nagata and poured himself cornflakes. "And where's Keigo?"

"Are you blind? It's a fucking stove," answered Death, taking a spoonful of cereal. "Asano is probably sleeping off yesterday."

Ichigo filled the bowl with milk only to realize he had forgotten a spoon. As he rose to get one, Nagata reached for the drawer to his left where they were kept and handed it to him, allowing him to sit back. Nagata had been on edge since Nagisa's appearance proving Haruka had used a unique ability to split herself in two with the hope that things might turn out differently than the last four cycles the Arcana experienced. They thought they only had to worry about Soul Society's plan to create a stronger generation of Arcana to battle against Nagata's army, which now lacked two of its strongest fighters, three if Touma were included. Tsukamoto Kazumasa, the male Lovers, had not turned up since Haruka's banishment and while Nagata hoped to find him well, Ageha and Keigo believed otherwise.

Everything that had once seemed perfectly planned—albeit impulsive—now looked chaotic. All Nagata's plans had fallen away, replaced by the need to rescue Haruka from Oblivion even if it meant having to trust Arashi.

"There is something in that wall," Ichigo said, the pages came into mind with their long black tangles and dark clusters. "Haruka left something there."

"I declared a war scheduled for tomorrow," Nagata replied testily, pouring himself another bowl of cereal. "I do not have the time to decipher the scribbles she left behind."

"You're going?"

"I do not plan to keep them waiting when they have taken the time to create a new generation of Arcana to greet me." He grinned. "If you want to look at a dead girl's musings, then be my guest."

Ichigo scowled. Ageha said the turning would be inevitable and that the new generation would be perfect, but that they would need a month to become as skilled as the original generation. "Are you stupid?" And gold eyes snapped forward to meet him, a compliment to the dangerous smirk twisting in Death's lips. Anyone else would think twice before insulting the powerful man in front of him, but he did not care. "You plan to go into Soul Society on your own? You'll get killed!"

"I am not unfamiliar with the concept," he said with indifference, "and nobody said I planned to move on my own. Ageha and Aizen will accompany me, of course, they're the distraction."

"Aizen? You're taking Aizen?" he snapped, the idea more preposterous than his earlier assumption.

"It's just Aizen."

"Just Aizen? Do you know what _just_ Aizen did?"

"Oh, I know, that's why he's invited." Nagata finished his breakfast and dumped the bowl into the sink. "I meet Ageha in a half hour," he said, washing his hands and drying them in a washcloth. "You should consider doing something useful other than sleeping. It is doing horrible things to your mood."

"You're one to talk," Ichigo scoffed.

"Arashi might drop by."

"Why?"

Nagata pointed in the direction of the coat closet by the door. "Kouyou is still in the closet," he answered. "Don't talk to him, he's a shitty person. You don't get to associate with shitty people on my watch, understand?"

"Arashi's a pretty shitty person."

"Not as shitty as Kouyou. You look up shitty person on the internet you'll find a picture of an old man in a bowler hat. Try it, I dare you." Nagata grabbed his leather jacket from a hook on the wall and tugged it on. "Wash the dishes and try not to over think the scribbles." He started to say Nagisa, but quickly corrected himself. They had agreed to stop calling Haruka Nagisa, although it was her original name they needed to distinguish her from her other half. So Haruka was in Oblivion and Nagisa was doing something evil in the Human World. "She naturally complicated the simplest of things, you need to stop focusing on everything—the lines and the clusters—and just look at the wall. Ichigo, stare at the wall. And if you give up, Arashi is probably dropping by, ask him about it and if he's in a good mood, he'll give you a golden answer."

Nagata left out the door.

Ichigo lost his appetite after two more spoonfuls of cereal and discarded of the remains. He washed the dishes and returned to Haruka's room at the end of the hall where he was haunted by her words. She asked him to save her the night before the end. She admitted she didn't want to die. He felt impotent when he held her cold body in his arms. He couldn't fix it, he couldn't help her…but that was then, Arashi promised a gate into Oblivion that brought hope back to him. If he managed to reach her before the allotted time, she'd be free of her imprisonment and once healed, she'd be back in this room playing her zombie games.

He touched the sketchbook paper on the wall, the surface smooth under his palm, the charcoal coming away with his movements. He moved back to sit on the bed where he could stare at it directly, then dropped on his back.

A hint of doubt remained. If he did not find her in time, she could die and it would be permanent if she did so inside Oblivion.

Ichigo gave up. He saw no patterns or simplicity. He only registered chaos from the drawings on the wall and his patience suffered the worst of the offense.

He sensed the presence of another, the strong pull of black energy wrapped itself about his form and raised bumps on his flesh. The pure energy that fueled the Arcana unnerved him. It was heavier than the spiritual energy he had grown accustomed to as a Shinigami Representative and it packed a stronger punch, which made going up against an Arcana infinitely more dangerous than any other race of spiritual beings. They were designed to be stronger, faster, and deadlier as a last resort for Soul Society, but everything had gone terribly wrong.

Hundreds upon hundreds of shinigami were gathered and subjected to torture to become Arcana, only twenty-one survived.

Ichigo left Haruka's room, meeting her twin's golden stare. Wakatsuki Arashi, The Judgment, stood in the center of the room dressed casually in a hooded shirt under a blue jean vest and skinny jeans paired with combat boots. He drew a hand from his pocket and lifted it in greeting.

"Yo, Kurosakana."

"It's Kurosaki," he corrected.

"I know." Arashi grinned. "I'm looking for my friend? Have you seen him? He's a traitorous old thing, but he's just as precious as if he weren't."

Ichigo jabbed his thumb in the direction of the closet. "In there."

"A closet?" He sounded amused. "I hate her, but you gotta admit, she's hilarious."

"How?"

"She put Kouyou in a closet?"

Ichigo stared on befuddled.

"I mean, why would you put anyone in a closet? Seriously? You hang your coats in there." Arashi blabbered, attempting not to laugh. "Think about it."

"I think your sense of humor is dead. That isn't funny."

"Well nobody can take the bitter out of the prude." Arashi opened the closet door and barked out a laugh at the sight of the long-suffering Hierophant. "You've seen better days old man. Now, how do you suppose I break this?"

"Did you not think to bring Faye?" asked Watanabe Kouyou, his voice low and exhausted.

"Faye is unavailable." His expression darkened for a split second. "You have me to deal with."

"Your army is waning, Judgment."

"That is a terrible thing to say, Hierophant."

The brittle peace between them rested upon a thinning thread. If the silence persisted any longer, Ichigo was sure he would see it snap.

"Wakatsuki," Ichigo called.

Arashi faced him. "What is it, Kurosakana?"

"Kurosaki," he corrected firmly. He shook his head, annoyed. It was useless to reason with anyone of the Housen family. They were all irritatingly pigheaded. "Haruka left something behind. Nagata said you might be able to decipher it."

"I'll come back for you in a bit, Kouyou-san."

The younger boy followed Ichigo into Haruka's room and quickly found the sketches on the wall. He leaned back in observation, looked up and down and side to side with an analytical eye as he hummed in understanding.

"Scribbles and clusters, it is so like her," Arashi said, glancing in his direction. He pointed to the uppermost sketch, the one pinned to the corner of the wall where he realized it seemed everything seemed to originate from that area. Every dark tendril started there and spilled in different directions holding black clusters in the center. "There it begins. You count the clusters. There are four. Maybe you've heard the story. There are four and they're a family, but everyone was angry at one another because they didn't know how to be a family anymore."

Yuzu told him the story in remembrance of the woman that used to tell it. Tsukino Sara, Haruka and Arashi's mother, who was fond of the Major Arcana in a tarot deck and organizing Death, Judgment, The World, and Devil in a line at the top of a pyramid.

Ichigo nodded. "Tsukino Sara told my sisters the story."

"Yeah, well the structure of this is exactly like that story, so whatever Haruka is trying to say either has to do with my dysfunctional family, Tsukino Sara, or the Arcana as a whole," Arashi explained. "If anything, Haruka was certain she would die, absolutely certain because all of these sketches look like they were rushed. The picture would be clearer if she used her paints, but she needed to finish fast so she opted for charcoal. Something is here."

He pressed a hand to the center.

"She is fucking with us all. That's the bottom of it." Arashi shrugged and headed for the door.

"Why do you hate Haruka so much?" asked Ichigo.

He halted at the entrance. "Why?" he questioned, toying with the question. "Do I need a reason?"

"You've been an ass to her all her life."

"She killed our mother. She may not have been our true mother, but she was our mother, nonetheless. She birthed us knowing we were Arcana and raised us knowing we would be enemies, but she loved us and she killed her." Arashi paused. "Our troubles did not start there, of course, but it brought me an understanding. There aren't enough apologies in the world to remedy what we have done to each other."

"You care enough to open a gate for her."

"Because she is still my sister and I'd rather see her dead than suffering in that hell." Arashi continued out the door. "You have no idea what a terrible place that is and I don't wish it upon anyone, not even shameless, self-entitled assholes that don't deserve it."

Ichigo followed him out to ensure he took Watanabe Kouyou and left as expected. Once the house emptied, he changed his clothes and stepped out for a quick run to the nearest convenience store. He thought it would be prudent to stop Nagata from reaching Soul Society. There were arrangements in need of address. Nothing had been done since Arashi agreed to open a gate for them during the winter solstice.

Everything had been too eerily silent, too strange, too suspicious. He chose the safety of his family and the chance to save Haruka instead of accepting a Senkaimon to stop Soul Society from turning his shinigami friends into Arcana. With a perfected curse, they would not die, it was guaranteed by Ageha's Hermit Eye, that anyone turned by Wakatsuki Hiko would live. So he was given no reason to worry for them other than the fact that they would be subjected to the horrible burden that was being Arcana.

Trouble lingered in the crisp morning air, the dangers passed in the wintry breezes and a warning hid beneath the thick fog rising from the ground and he sensed his suspicions turned into truth. Just as something existed in Haruka's sketches, some power electrified the air.

He bumped shoulders with a man in passing. He found himself appalled by the pale man whose bright golden eyes greeted his, the veins beneath his paper-thin skin were a network of bright blue rivers.

_What the…?_

The stranger took him by the arms and opened his mouth to the sound of pained gargling followed by a swell of blood that burst forth and splattered against his front, burning like acid.

Ichigo acted instinctively, he twisted free of the iron grasp and punched the man across the face, knocking him to the ground on his back where he let out a shrill scream like a wounded animal.

He waved his throbbing hand knowing his knuckles were either bruised or broken because it felt like he punched a steel wall and did not even put a dent in it.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he snapped, cursing beneath his breath. He whirled around quickly and searched the empty streets for another person, but he was standing on the sidewalk alone with this strange man with blue veins vomiting black blood in his struggle.

Ichigo stepped away, but the man's skinny hand clasped around his ankle in silent plea. The dark blood ran down his chin and with chalky white lips, he uttered one word, _"Kill," _and then a second, _"Me_."

A blade came into view. It pierced through the back of the man's neck, and he heaved a wheezing breath before his head fell, the dark blood pooling underneath his head.

Ichigo lifted his face and met with Touma's sharp angled face, who he could have easily mistaken for Nagata had it not been for his youthful appearance and short crop of wild red hair. He drew the blade from the dead man and wiped it clean with a piece of cloth.

"Next time you see one of these, you kill it," Touma advised. "The miserable thing did not transition well."

"Arcana?"

Touma sheathed his sword. He bent forward and brushed the man's hair from his forehead, revealing a roman numeral twenty-one in the center. "Not even close," he replied, straightening out. "These are servants to the Arcana that creates them. They do our bidding, but sometimes they do not transition well."

"This one belonged to Nagisa."

"She's making more. Believe it or not. Nightly. Since the day she revealed herself to you, my brother, and Ageha," Touma replied solemnly. "She uses a special method to kill innocent and those with even a speck of spiritual energy are turned into this. While they're out in the open, they will seek out individuals with spiritual energy to leech off them, that is how they grow stronger and better suited to serve their Arcana."

"Why is she killing people?"

"When a person dies, a shinigami comes to reap their souls and they are accepted into Soul Society," Touma begun, his pale blue eyes fading under a dust of glittering flecks of gold. "When a lot of them die…well, think on it."

"How many people does she expect to kill?" he demanded. Innocent people, too. He wondered how many would relinquish their lives for Nagisa to be satisfied.

Touma grimaced. "There's this thing called balance and the world will always be a better place with it intact. Nagisa isn't going to stop killing people until she destroys that."

"What'll happen when she does?"

"Let's hope we don't find out." Touma tossed his sword into the air where it vanished in a cloud of smoke. He started back down the sidewalk to the house. "Come on, we're going. Enishi asked me to make sure Arashi didn't try to steal you away."

Ichigo failed to follow, his eyes on the white corpse at his feet.

"Forget about him. Once the energy in the air fades, his body will become ash," Touma told him. "This area is surrounded by something like a barrier he created on his own. You can say he was walking around aimlessly in search of someone to help him. This is the only way to help someone like him. You can't save everyone."

He followed the shorter boy reluctantly. "Why isn't anyone trying to stop her?"

"Because nobody can find her," Touma answered. "She might not be as strong as Haruka, but she is very good at hiding. Besides, we have enough on our plate for our dwindling numbers."

He remained silent for the rest of the way and reentered the house to find Tatsuki leaning against the counter leafing through one of the books Nagata left behind. She shut it upon seeing him and walked up to meet him.

Ichigo sank into the nearest chair and she took the seat across him, arms folded over her knees as she leaned forward so strands of dark hair fell across her cheek.

"Did something happen?" Ichigo asked, watching Touma rummage through the refrigerator for a carbonated drink. Instead of joining them, he went to the other side of the long counter to sit on the edge.

"I was about to ask the same thing?" Tatsuki returned, frowning up at him. "Has Nagata been bullying you? I heard he's staying here with you and Keigo."

"No. Nagata is fine." He tore his gaze away from the redhead. "Has something happened on your end?"

"No, everything is fine," she answered, eyebrows drawn. "Everyone is worried about you, Ichigo. Ever since Wakatsuki was banished to Oblivion, you've been here. You should go home and see your sisters."

"I'm going back tomorrow," he said dismissively, "besides, my old man is there, he's taking care of them and keeping them out of trouble. Not to mention Touma's back."

"Touma can't take care of your sisters like before." Tatsuki moved to the edge of her seat, casting a quick glance in Touma's direction before verbalizing the reason. "He has to grow into his powers again. He doesn't have anything other than a sword. He's no longer the strongest Arcana."

Ichigo sympathized with Touma. It was as if he hadn't been restricted enough before with Haruka's disapproval of his involvement, now this came into play like the final nail on the coffin.

"You don't have to worry, though, between Orihime and me, there's no way anyone is getting near your sisters." Tatsuki's lips quirked up into a smile. "Ishida and Chad plan to volunteer some time as well."

He always seemed to forget how good his friends were as he nodded and mouthed a small thank you.

"Did you care that much about Wakatsuki?" Tatsuki asked quietly, unhesitant.

He had watched her dragging her feet until she had stopped and had asked him to save her with a miserable look on her face as if she had swallowed a hundred nails. It had taken everything in her to ask for help, to be saved.

"I—Haruka…she wanted to be saved," Ichigo replied, avoiding the question. She had wrapped her arms tightly around him, hands fisted in his clothes and body trembling with emotion as she had pleaded for her life. He had remembered her near lifeless in his arms admitting she was terrified of Oblivion. "I promised to save her." It hurt all over again. "Except, I couldn't. I didn't have powers. I didn't know what she planned to do. I don't even know if she really wanted to be saved."

Tatsuki lowered her gaze and left her seat. "I should get going. Tell Keigo I said hi."

Ichigo stood. "Yeah, take care of yourself."

"Ichigo." She paused. "If you care about Wakatsuki, you should be ready for the worst. Even if we rescue her from Oblivion, she was hurt bad…Orihime can't heal Arcana wounds...and Ageha isn't sure he can either."

"It's better than not trying."

She nodded. She called out to Touma before leaving the two alone in the wide room.

Touma glanced at him. "She told you, didn't she?"

"What?"

"That I can't use my powers."

"Yeah."

"I can still kick your ass." He grinned, despite his expression looking downright miserable. "Don't underestimate me when your training starts up tomorrow."

"We'll see." He would gladly go along with the challenge.

Keigo stepped out of the hallway groggily rubbing his eyes. His arms were covered in cuts and bruises from Nagata's training. His face had been swollen when Ichigo last saw him, but it seemed all that had gone down.

"Morning," he greeted, moving past them to get cereal. He looked at Touma. "Are you staying here too?"

"Nah, I'm at Ageha's," he replied. "That Aizen is a hilarious roommate."

"I don't understand why you all can get along with that guy," Ichigo complained. "He's not even sorry about what he's done and if he would have sacrificed Karakura Town, Haruka and Nagata would've been gone with it."

Keigo agreed with a nod.

Touma reached to pat him on the shoulder. "You don't know how happy I was you were around."

"Why didn't any one of you ever try to stop Aizen? Isn't Captain Ukitake one of you?"

"Yeah, but that man there had his abilities sealed and he swore not to use them. And nobody tried to stop him because we had better things to do than reign him in." He shrugged. "Plus you were already going to fight him, so Arcana involvement seemed a bit redundant and the only Arcana willing to be redundant was still making a name for himself in the streets waiting to die. Anyway, we'd have to explain ourselves and it would have been too much work. Now was a much better time."

"Aizen's a lot scarier now than before," Keigo admitted, wincing as he seated himself.

"Don't worry about him. You're an Evoker, he is not. You're automatically stronger than he'll ever be."

"Doesn't mean I'm not going to run away if he tried to kill me again."

Touma barked out a laugh.

Ichigo simply rolled his eyes. "You shouldn't even be an Evoker."

"I never asked to be one! It came with the Tarot!" Keigo shot back. He stuffed his mouth full of cereal and ate begrudgingly. "All the Evokers are so scary! Why am I even one?"

"Ageha isn't," Ichigo commented.

"Ageha is an Evoker last I checked," Touma corrected.

"And he's the scariest one of all!" complained Keigo.

"I thought that'd be Nagata."

"He's scary in a way you know why you should be afraid of him. With Ageha-san, you don't know why he's so scary."

On second thought, Ichigo agreed with that description of the man. He did seem frightening in a secret way, which didn't help in any situation.

"Incoming," Touma announced.

Once the words left his lips, strands of black smoke slithered in the air vanishing the higher their long limbs strained and from the smog, Nagata and Ageha emerged. The two reached the side of the counter and while Nagata leaned forward, pulling a stool under him to sit, the taller male slunk off to the side where he smiled in greeting at everyone and put a hand to Touma's head.

"Fourteen again, are we?" he commented. "What a lovely age this is for you. Would you like to go to school with the others? I can have it arranged."

Touma scowled. "No."

"You'd probably be able to keep a better eye on the young queen."

"Arisawa is taking care of it."

"You don't get to slack off because you lost your powers," Nagata snapped. "I'm enrolling you tomorrow morning."

"_We_ are enrolling you," Ageha corrected. "Your hair is going to go black as well. Yours too, Nagata."

The two groaned in unison.

"Aren't you planning to go to Soul Society tomorrow?" asked Ichigo, wondering when they planned to squeeze in that bit of tyranny if they wanted to enroll Touma in the morning.

"We only set dates, Kurosakana, we don't set times," Ageha said, grinning. "It is up to them to decide when they will be ready to receive us."

"It's Kurosaki!" he barked. "Not Kurosakana, Ku-ro-sa-ki!"

Nagata patted his shoulder. "Sit, relax, take a chill pill." He slid a bottle of alcohol towards him. "Have a drink."

Ichigo pushed it back to him.

"The She-Devil is killing innocent people," Touma started. "I killed a defective Vessel. It tried to poison Kuro-chan."

Ichigo felt his eyebrow twitch in response to the nickname, but let it slide.

"There will be more Vessels until it draws the shinigami from Soul Society," Ageha said in agreement. "I do believe she means to bring the shinigami into the Human World, as to why…well, your guess is as good as mine."

"Why do we keep you around if you never use your Hermit's Eye?" asked Nagata, popping open the bottle of whiskey in front of him. "You have it. Use it."

"I refuse," Ageha deadpanned.

"Go on, now, didn't you come to say something?" Nagata took a swig of his bottle and left his seat in search of another.

Everyone turned their complete attention to the Hermit Arcana as he deliberated. His thin eyebrows were drawn in serious contemplation, which made Ichigo dread what new development had come to be since that morning when Ageha opened his mouth with something of a laugh.

"I seem to have forgotten," he admitted sheepishly.

"It was probably a lie," Keigo accused.

"It was not a lie," Ageha defended. "It was something very important, too. Enishi, you tell them what it was."

"How the fuck should I know? You never told me anything."

Ichigo sighed in exasperation. "We can drop it if you don't remember!"

"Oh! Oh! I remember now!" The frail-looking male clapped his hands together in excitement. "I know how to make Arcana!"

The room exploded with exclamations. Nagata dropped the bottle of whiskey and the alcohol soaked into the white carpeting beneath his feet. Keigo's mouth hung open for the split second it took for Touma to smack him under the chin to shut it before he caught any flies.

"Be quiet for a minute," Ageha said loudly, gesturing for everyone to drop the volume on their inquiries and demands. "What I am saying is that like Wakatsuki Hiko, I am capable of making Arcana. With the right formula and exposure, a spiritually inclined individual can make the transition to Arcana without the means used to create the Original Arcana."

"And?" Nagata pressed.

"And I think we should take advantage of my knowledge and arm ourselves with more Arcana." He silenced Touma and Nagata before either one had the chance to speak. "I will not work with anyone that does not wish to be Arcana. I will only turn volunteers."

Touma raised his hand. "Problem."

"What?"

"You don't have anything remotely like the crystal that turned us."

"Ah no, but I know who does." Ageha turned to Nagata, who was busy gulping down another mouthful of whiskey. "Enishi?"

"What? Why are you all looking at me?"

"Because you're insanely handsome," said Touma sardonically, then smacked his brother upside the head. "When did you ever think to tell everyone that you have the stupid crystal?"

Nagata grabbed Touma by the collar and threatened to punch him. Ageha grabbed Death by the wrist and zeroed in on him with a murderous glare to match his.

"I will not tolerate fighting between the two of you," he said edgily.

"He started it," Nagata grumbled.

"And he will be punished for it." Ageha turned to the younger boy. "Off the counter top and back home. Now."

Touma begrudgingly obeyed.

"Where do you keep the thing?" asked Keigo wondrously.

"Hidden." Nagata rubbed his wrist. "So assholes can't go near it. I never told you about it, how do you know?"

"I see everything."

"You don't honestly think anyone is going to agree to become an Arcana," Ichigo stated.

"You would be surprised what sorts of people want power," Ageha replied. "With that said, would you like to become an Arcana, Kurosaki-kun? I do think you would make a wonderful contender for a Fool."

Ichigo stared at him blankly. "What?"

"You wouldn't make a terrible Hanged Man either," Nagata said, then stole a glance at Keigo. "Maybe we'll replace you with him."

Ageha nodded. "Good Strength too."

"Yeah, but with our luck, he'll turn into another Judgment and go on follow the path of every other Judgment we've had." Nagata shrugged. "It's best you stick with what you know, but don't be shy about whoring out our cause. We need more people on our side. We'll literally take what we can get."

* * *

**Beta**: LULuckyTiger

**xl**: I want to thank these wonderful people - **shikaboo**, **Gman123**, and **Aries01xD **for reviewing the previous chapter! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, but I unfortunately have some bad news. I'm not dropping the story, by the way, but there will be delays in the writing.

If anyone goes by my LJ every so often (especially recently), you should be aware that my laptop crashed and it might have taken everything I love with it, which includes incredible progress to the chapters following this one and several other completed chapters for other stories. I'm going to take it to be repaired to see if I can salvage anything (let's cross our fingers), but even if that happens, I'll be computerless. And since I want to take advantage of some warranty (if I still have it now that I think about it) I'm taking it to a place where the people are notoriously bad at doing some timely work...so I probably won't be seeing my laptop for months and there's no chance I can borrow a computer for anything other than school work.

Life happens. I apologize that technology hates me so much.

So, I'll be seeing you when I see you. Check my livejournal for updates. I can update that well enough through my phone, so I won't be completely active. I'll try to do fun 100 word drabbles in the mean time featuring everyone. XD I won't give up writing!


End file.
